Saturday, May 21, 2011

Hello, is anybody out there? Guess what I'm going to do this weekend? I am actually going to brew for the first time in forever.

The Fourth of July is fast approaching and the kegerator is effectively empty. I think I will go back to the beginning of the Fork and Hay recipe database and make a batch of Geordie-Boy, followed by a second attempt at Honey-Brew List and then a Por Favor.

I'll probably get the Geordie-Boy done this weekend and the other two done over Memorial Day weekend. Stay tuned!

Sunday, February 6, 2011

I've been thinking about the new brewery plans a lot this week. I may step back from the HERMS idea to something a little simpler - a 2 vessel system like the Brutus 20 originally proposed by HBT user Lonnie Mac and implemented in multiple ways (see HBT user jkarp's build for an example). The reason I'm reconsidering the HERMS idea is that it seems like it's a little too much to bite off at one time for me, and I would rather ease into a new process more gradually.

That may sound like a cop-out, but I do have some logic behind the decision. It basically comes down to two reasons:

Cost: I simply don't have the money to lay out for all the components required to do a HERMS system correctly. I need to do something that can make use of things I already have on hand, like my mishmash of pots and MLTs. And, as I mentioned in the last post, a significant amount of the money I have to spend on this has to be applied to getting the power wired correctly. The wire for the 50A feeder is going to cost almost $200 by itself. I don't need another $200 worth of copper tubing, bulkhead fittings, etc. to drive the cost up further. Besides, I want to get a grain mill so I can start buying my grain uncrushed so it keeps longer.

Purpose: the main idea is to get tighter control over the mash temperature while converting to all-electric brewing. HERMS will certainly provide that control, but so will the two-vessel Brutus 20, and with one less pot and heating element to deal with. That means one less PID, two fewer SSRs, one less heatsink, etc. to wire up (and buy, see the previous point).

I guess it really comes down to a "walk before you run" approach to moving forward. I'm in love with the HERMS concept, and I'd like nothing more than to have a totally automated 3 vessel system with solenoid valves and the whole nine yards, but that's a hell of a step up from what I'm doing now.

So how am I going to go forward? I think HBT user jfkriege has the right idea for a process concept that matches my limitations as a brewer and a DIY'er. His two-vessel system uses continuous recirculation through the brew kettle to maintain mash temperature, with a gravity return from the BK to the MLT to simplify the plumbing and cut down on the connections that have to be made. He's using an immersion chiller to cool his wort after boiling, which I can do to start, although I would really like to use the counterflow chiller that I built on spring break last year but never documented (or hooked up for anything other than a leak test) because it saves water.

I figure that I can get started with this concept pretty quickly, because I have most of the big parts on hand. I plan to use my existing 20 gallon pot as the brew kettle and my existing large cooler MLT. All I really need to do, in general, is:

Get the 50A circuit run out to the garage, and accumulate all the plugs, receptacles, switches and cords needed to set up the control panel. I bought the 50A spa disconnect panel with GFCI last week so that process is underway.

Build a two-level stand that allows for gravity return from the BK to the MLT and pump feed from the MLT to the BK.

Convert the 20 gallon pot to a 5500W 240V electric kettle

Build the control panel with a PID, two SSRs (one for each leg of the power so that when it's off, it's off), a pump on-off switch and other minor items.

Get some hoses and disconnects

Build the bulkhead connections for the BK mash feed and return and the BK drain (I'd like to have a sight glass here for ease of measuring water and wort levels)

Hook up the counterflow chiller

These are all things I can do in a stepwise fashion while still retaining the ability to brew. For example, there are no modifications to the MLT, and the BK mods can be done in phases (heating element first, then bulkhead ports, then sensor for the PID, etc.) while still being usable for brewing. I can switch to electric boiling as soon as I get the 50A circuit run to the garage and the heating element added to the BK, and as I mentioned I can use my existing immersion chiller until I get ready to add the CFC.

The reference system build includes a smaller "pilot" setup that can do really small (2.5 gallon) batches, and while that would be nice, I think I can do that after the initial setup of the 5-to-10 gallon system. I'm more likely, once this build is finished, to switch over and work on a more stable fermentation temperature control solution that works in the winter. Speaking of which...

110101K Wizard's Wheat
I neglected to assign a batch number to last week's brew, partly because I didn't know if it was appropriate for something made from a kit. I decided I needed a number (if for no other reason than to mark the keg) so I designated the batch according to the usual standard with an added 'K' suffix to show it's from a kit, not a Fork and Hay recipe. I didn't create a record for it in my BeerSmith database though. For the record, the OG was 1.048, which was within the expected range specified in the instructions.

It's been fermenting away for a week now, and things are starting to slow down. I have been able to keep the temperature at around 65F in the room where I placed the carboy, thanks to a small space heater with a thermostat and a fan. It's just enough to counteract the normal heat loss in that room during the night. I'm going to give it until next weekend, then keg it while adding some raspberry extract that the Brewmistress included in my Christmas present.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Well, that was a refreshing break. What has happened since last I communicated with the (generously counted) two of you who read this?

Smash Mouth Volume 1 results

The last thing I brewed before the recent hiatus was a SMaSH with Cascade hops. It turned out OK. It wasn't my favorite beer by any means but I can appreciate now what the flavor of Cascade is, and I have started to recognize its aroma in other places. I guess that means that the exercise was a success. I think what I need to do, though, is brew these in smaller batches - like a 1 gallon test batch - so I can turn more of them over and build a flavor baseline. I will have to bottle those smaller batches because (a) I don't have small kegs and (b) even if I did there's no place to serve them from.

Real world brewing

Most of my time since September has been consumed with a work project for a "major brewing company with multiple breweries nationwide." The project involves the deployment of a procedural system for the packaging side of the operation and uses GE Intelligent Platforms' Proficy SOA and Proficy Workflow. We have had to overcome several challenges along the way, but the project has finally gone live in about half of one brewery with continuing rollouts every week.

I only mention this because this project gave me an opportunity to spend a lot of quality time inside industrial scale breweries, something I haven't had since my college days when I worked as a tour guide at the Memphis Stroh's facility. Of course at the time, the process details were just lines on a page of a script - they didn't have the same meaning to me then that they would now. As a home brewer, that stuff has become a lot more interesting.

As I wrapped up the first go-live at the headquarters brewery, I had the opportunity to briefly visit with the brewer in charge of the company's pilot plant, and I got a quick tour of both the small-scale and large-scale pilot operations. Since I'm covered over with non-disclosure agreements and such I won't list any details, but it was very interesting to see that even the big boys start out with a system not unlike what I aspire to: a three-vessel system that makes 5 gallons. Of course, since they have the resources to do it, theirs is fully piped and valved and controlled by PLCs, but it's the same layout and process. One interesting thing about the larger system is that it uses a mash filtration system instead of a lauter tun, which evidently does a terrific job of clarifying wort without sparging and vorlaufing.

It's somewhat fashionable to crack on macrobrewed American Lager variants, but if you think about what it really requires to be able to produce that style, which has such a mild flavor profile that there's nowhere for imperfections to hide, you can't deny that brewers who sell millions of barrels of the stuff are on top of their processes. What I learned during the tour and discussion with the pilot plant brewer is that they also have the capability to produce different, more complex styles with the same repeatability of quality.

As a souvenir of my tour, I was given some sample bottles from the pilot plant, including a schwartzbier that took top honors at a "prestigious national brewing festival." Sadly, I was unable to take advantage of the samples, because I was on the way to the airport and the UPS Store wouldn't ship them for me. (Something about alcohol laws blah blah blah.) However, I have it on good authority from Tim that the beers were as good as promised.

Extracting value

Santa Claus was good to Fork and Hay, bringing not one but three extract recipe kits from Homebrew Heaven - namely the Vanilla Weizen, the Wizard's Wheat, and a Belgian Ale. Fork and Hay has heretofore been an all-grain operation, but these kits look pretty good and I'm excited about trying them out. It will be nice to see what comes out when we eliminate half the variables from my process and focus only on the results of fermentation.

Yesterday I brewed up the Wizard's Wheat. I have to say that it was nice not having to sweat the mash temperature, heat sparge water, and handle all the resulting clean-up. Whereas a typical brew session takes me between 5 and 6 hours from nothing to cleaned up afterward, this one was about three, and that included a 30 minute whirlpooling rest after the boil that I normally don't do.

The kits are all dry malt extract kits. The Wizard's Wheat included some steeping grains, which I heated in the boil kettle until it reached about 155F. After that, as the water temperature inched closer and closer to boiling, I gradually added the extract, which also included the bittering hop addition. It was hard to mix in at first, but I got my drill and paint stirring attachment out and soon had a well-dissolved, homogeneous wort.

From that point on the process was familiar - boil, make the flavoring hop additions, cool, transfer, pitch. The kit did have something new to me - it included a Whirlfloc tablet. I have never used Whirlfloc or Irish moss in any brews so far, but after seeing the clarity of this resulting wort I'm certainly going to start.

Speaking of starting, the batch is in the fermenter now, trying to. This is the time of year where I really need a two-stage temperature controller, one to provide heat and one to provide cooling. The freezer fermentation chamber never gets warm enough out in the garage, so I have to ferment inside. Downstairs in the basement the morning ambient temperature is around 60 F. Once fermentation kicks in that will be fine, however I think I need to warm it up just a touch to get it going.

2011 Plans for Fork and Hay

This year I'm going to build a new rig, an all-electric HERMS. I'll start laying out the conceptual drawings (or the pointers to other people whose ideas I'm going to emulate) as we go. I can tell already that The Electric Brewery is going to be a key resource.

First up is securing the power I'm going to need. I figure I need to pull a 50A 240V circuit out to the garage. The heating elements I'm planning to use are 5500W so they will pull less than 30A when operating (only one operates at a time), leaving me capacity for a 15A 120V circuit as well, which will allow me to power the controls. These obviously have to be GFCI protected. It appears that the easiest way to do that is to buy a preconfigured spa disconnect panel to handle the GFCI for the 30A load, and then a separate GFCI outlet for the 15A circuit.

That's all doable. Unfortunately with the price of copper I think I will have to apply for a second mortgage to get the wire. Have you seen what Type NM 6/3 with ground costs per foot these days? It's outrageous! And that doesn't take into account the additional lengths of SJOW cord for the actual power plug connections, or the connectors themselves. Who knew the most expensive part of the whole setup would be the wire?